Thank you kitxxkat140827 for the idea for the story and for coming to me to write it! Enjoy.
Performing the first surgery on the Uglies was his favorite part about being a doctor. Each year he got to see the Committee for Morphological Standards' new rules and regulations for new Pretties, and he got to put them into practice. He got to give these Uglies a better chance at life. Dr. Harman knew that's what he was providing these Uglies with; a better life. They came into his operating room unsymmetrical, boring, and Ugly, and left matching, similar, and . Harman smiled at the file he was holding. Tally Youngblood had been a big red flag in the doctors' interface for quite some time. Finally she had been brought to New Pretty Town to be turned into a Pretty and he got to be the doctor to give her the surgery.
Each Ugly-turned-Pretty that left his office made Dr. Harman beam with pride. He was the one who gave them this beautiful new life. He was the one who made them better.
And now he got to be the one to do it to Tally Youngblood. He had been warned that she could potentially be a difficult surgery recipient, but that just added to the appeal of operating on her.
Closing the file, he made his way into the prep room. Once he was in the sterile environment, the medical drones sanitized him from head to toe, before presenting him with a set of sterile scrubs from the special hole in the wall.
Once he was cleared he made his way into the operating room. The smell of the operating fluid filled his nose and he smiled.
"Let's change this young woman's life," he said with a smile. His assisting doctor smiled back at him, and an unconscious Tally was wheeled into the room. She was naked under a thin sheet, with a needle in her arm steadily pumping her blood stream with anesthesia. Two nurses lifted her into the operating tube and inserted the oxygen tube into her mouth. Once she was secure, Dr. Harman flipped the lid shut and activated the tube. The thick pink operating liquid began to fill the tube around Tally. In minutes she was submerged and her vital signs were up on the wall screen next to the image that he and Dr. Calloway had decided Tally would look like.
"Shall we get started, Roz?" Dr. Calloway asked.
"Yes, let's get started." Dr. Harman responded. He walked over to the tube and turned it on completely.
He walked to the control screen on one side of the tube, and Dr. Calloway walked to the other side as they began the operation. With nimble fingers from years of practice, the two doctors controlled the operating drones with ease.
On either side of Tally's body, the drones began buffering her skin. Layer by layer, they removed the skin, until there was almost none left. Her muscles were left alone; they would be dealt with later in the operation. Smaller drones came to life as the skin buffers finished their duties.
The smaller drones maneuvered their ways under Tally's muscles, until they reached her bones. The two doctors turned their attention to screens next to the controls that gave them access to cameras placed on the drones. They could see Tally's bones clearly on the screens, and used the drones to begin the next step of the operation.
Tally was a bit taller than Pretty standards, so first they began with her leg and spinal bones. Not wanting to make her legs too short for her torso, they had calculated beforehand how short they needed to make both her legs and her spine. In the end, they had decided to take off two inches from each leg, and an inch off of her spine. After they were satisfied with her lower half, the two doctors guided the drones up to her chest and arms.
Her arms were shortened by one inch – a half-inch removed from each bone – and they were left alone width-wise.
"Nice arms, this one has," Dr. Calloway muttered.
"We should document them when we're done." Dr. Harman agreed. "Show them to the Committee for consideration." Dr. Calloway nodded.
Tally's chest bones were stretched by almost a full inch to reach Pretty standard. Her neck they decided would need some slimming, but they would do that with the muscle defining and leave her bones alone.
Moving along to her face, they contoured her jaw and cheek bones, giving her a softer, sleeker look. Her eye sockets were enlarged just the tiniest amount, and they were moved a bit farther apart. Her nose they decided to completely remove and replace with surgical plastic. Once under the muscles, no one would be able to tell the difference between her bones and the plastic. Finally, Tally's forehead was shaped. It was brought down in size, the drones buffering it away until it was perfect.
For the finishing touches on her bones, the doctors enlarged her feet by an inch, and elongated her fingers by an eighth of an inch.
The bone drones made their way to the surface and settled back into their holding cells, and the muscle drones came to life. Personally, the drones were one of Dr. Harman's favorite parts of the surgery. He loved that there were different drones for each process of the surgery. It fascinated him to no end the wonders that their society could produce.
Going from the bottom up, the muscle drones began shaping Tally's body. After each muscle was shaped, it was injected with a toning gel to keep it in the shape that they set. The vital organs were enhanced in this process as well. There were certain precautions that they had to take: the liver needed an extra boost so that it wouldn't break down after a few weeks of Pretty drinking, the heart needed a special filter so that it wouldn't overexert itself with adrenaline, and the brain got the special lesions.
It was a pretty clever invention from the city. The lesions reminded the Pretties to take care of themselves. With the lesions, the Pretties remembered to sleep and drink water and to not eat so much or to take their purgers after they'd eaten too much.
While toning Tally's body, the drones slenderized her legs and abdominal muscles, and they increased her chest to as far as Pretty standards would allow. The doctors thought that Tally would need something special about her, so they went as far as they could with her measurements.
Once her muscles were done, they focused on her eyes and hair. Tally got the typical Pretty eye alterations: city interface, ping receptors, vision enhancements such as night vision and perfect Pretty eyesight. They altered the color from her natural bluish green to a more normal brown. Her hair they lengthened a bit and darkened to a chestnut brown.
Finally, the last drones came to life. They began spraying new skin on Tally, which was much paler than her original color.
"Ahh, that's much better." Dr. Harman said. "She was much too dark before."
"I'd never seen such a color on a person before!" Dr. Calloway agreed. "It was unnatural!"
"Well, she's normal now." Dr. Harman continued. "Normal and Pretty."
The skin drones finished their duties and the buffer drones rebooted for one final run through. The rough patches of skin where too much had been sprayed on were smoothed over and the doctors finally seemed satisfied with their work.
"I do believe this is our best work yet, Balthazar," Dr. Harman stated.
"You know what, Roz, I think you're right." Dr. Calloway said.
Turning off the operating tube, the two doctors watched as the operating liquid drained from around Tally. She was Pretty now, and they had given her that. The nurses from the beginning of the surgery removed the oxygen tube from her mouth and placed her back on the wheeled cart she came in on. The anesthesia would stay in her arm for a few more hours, and about two hours after it's removal she would start to wake up.
She'll wake up Pretty, thanks to you, Roz. Dr. Harman thought to himself as Tally was wheeled out of the room. Good going. Another one granted a better life.
If only he knew what he had just done.
So, there you have it. I tried to toy with the idea that the doctors didn't know what they were doing to the Pretties with the lesions. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. Let me know. Reviews are always welcome. Thanks for reading!
-In the Name of Merlin